Fallon boys golfers second in DI-A

Returning to action in their first tournament since March, the Greenwave boys golf team proved they can make the best of their time off by finishing third in the Elko Invitational Wednesday and bumping up to second place in Division I-A.

Fallon coach Rich Evans has a positive outlook with the state competition less than a month a way and said he believes the Wave made the best of its time off.

“We practiced pretty hard, worked pretty hard, and especially today, I think we’re seeing the results of our hard work,” Evans said.

Fallon’s next league invitational is at South Tahoe Thursday at 10 a.m. following a few non-league and junior varsity invitationals this week.

Evans attributes most of the Wave’s success in practice to the ongoing relationship with the staff of the Fallon Golf Course, where the team has had access to all of the course’s facilities.

“We are very fortunate about having a golf course that works so well with us,” Evans said. “Don (course owner) has really been a big part of our success with the course giving us full use of it’s facilities. Not a lot of other golf teams get that privilege, so that’s been huge for us.”

The Wave’s recent success brought Fallon exactly one team point ahead of Elko to second place and behind Spring Creek in first place. Evans said Elko is still coming on strong, however, although he also said they are the only team giving Fallon a hard time.

In addition to team success, two Fallon golfers. Raymond Plasse and Kelvin Cann, finished second and third respectively in the individual roster at the Elko tournament, earning silver and bronze medals with scores of 78 and 80 respectively.

“Our goal is that the whole team goes to state, but if our whole team does not go to state I’m fairly certain those two will be going to state for sure,” Evans said.

Though Plasse and Cann led the team, four other Fallon golfers displayed significant point drops this tournament. The Wave’s Mike Richards came in third with a record low of 93 for him, followed by sophomore Chance Wood who tied with Nick Smith at 95 and Braxton Hunter who trailed at 98.

In light of the team’s progression toward a lower average, Evans said though his first two golfers are rock solid and will be on the hunt for the low score every tournament that these four will be the ones who make the difference in Fallon going to state.

“They really just need to keep grinding, work hard and keep competing,” Evans said, “and if they do that we should have a pretty good shot at taking our whole team to state which hasn’t happened since 2011, the year we won the state tournament.”

Though Plasse and Cann both went to state last year as individuals representing Fallon, the Wave — as a whole — has, like Evans said, been waiting for the opportunity to compete in the top three teams since their title victory in 2011.

“I’m pretty optimistic that we’re going to have that opportunity as long as we keep working hard and I think we’re going to have a pretty good shot at it,” Evans said.

With another week of rest ahead, Evans said Fallon will keep the same course of action in their practices, focusing on short game and course confidence while drilling his golfers to move past mistakes easier.

“The thing about this is that it’s hard to make practice exciting when you’re doing the same thing hundreds of times,” he said. “You just keep putting and putting and putting and then chipping and chipping and chipping, and there’s really nothing fun about it. It’s just hard work and sometimes it’s going to be boring, but it’s certainly made a difference in the way they score.”